May 31, 2010

Jayhawk love

secret dubbing recipe
super secret dub
Brother Mike Grose from the Free State Fly Fishers recently sent the roughfisher a stash of angora and other goodies as part of the brownliner fly tyer exchange program. Mike has been featured on the blog before, and is best known for his killer pattern, Mike's Carp Candy. Mike graciously shared some of his angora, as well as a top secret scud dubbing recipe and sample, baggie of kitty fur, a and a few of his signature fly pattern.


angora
I can't wait to start playing with this stuff. It just scream spectral dubbing.

carp candy
carp candy
Thanks again Mike, the carps will love their new play toys.

May 29, 2010

emergence

A precipitous hatch of mayflies have taken over the Roughfisher Command Post as of late. A stretch of warm daytime temperatures coupled with low dewpoints have triggered a solid emergence of mayflies during the low light periods. As a result, we have been greeted each morning with a plethora of duns and spinners gracing the windows, screens, and siding of the command center. I took this as a great opportunity to break out the Canon and grab a few macros of these intriguing indicator species.

Maccaffertium vicarium (March Brown)

March Brown dun, ♂
March Brown dun, ♂
March Brown dun, ♂
Callibaetis ferrugineus (Speckled Dun)

Callibaetis dun, ♀
Callibaetis dun, ♀
Callibaetis dun, ♀

May 28, 2010

I need a napkin

bbq
Barbecue is ready. Ready to be served with homemade beans, coleslaw, fresh sweet corn, and a Shiner Bock.

bbq
bbq
Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Meat in my tooth

rubbed pork shoulder
I love long weekends. They give me enough time to do things that I love like fishing, spending time with my family, or charcuterie. I'm making up a batch of roughfisher's pulled pork for the family this Memorial Day weekend; Fifteen pounds worth. That should be enough to satisfy the family's meat tooth. The rub recipe is a secret so don't even bother asking for it.

bbq prep
pork shoulder
Waiting is the hardest part.

May 26, 2010

Eazy duz it

carp crack
The Dope-man brings you four new wonderful flavors of Carp Crack: Licorice, Rootbeer, Kiwi, and Lemon. Willy Wonka is busy back at the lab creating new flavors everyday. Keep an eye out for the Everlasting CarpStopper, coming soon to a street corner near year.

Licorice
Rootbeer
Kiwi
Lemon
Carp Crack, keeping carp hooked since TwentyTen.

May 24, 2010

roughfisher's vault 2010.05.24

The Grateful Dead, Live at Studio, December 1, 1974.

I'm not so sure if I trust the exact date of the recording, but these are the From The Mars Hotel album rehearsals. The raw unrefined beauty of Unbroken Chain Alone is reason alone to listen to this set. Phil leads an acoustic version of the tune that is a must hear. Most tracks are instrumentals, but Pride of Cucamonga is one of those tunes that really shined, and could have really been something if they would have taken the time to polish it up and perform it live. An early sneak peak at Crazy Fingers is the real nugget of this recording.

As an added bonus, I'll throw in a studio rehearsal set from February 20, 1977, "The Terrapin Station Outtakes". Equinox, cut from the album, is worth a listen.

Listening for the secret searching for the sound.

May 23, 2010

Squirrel Pelt

In a classic move in search of some squirrel hides for making dubbing, I stumble across the Squirrel Pelt. Behold Natures' glory, the Ape Drape is back and in full force. Gotta love a good Kentucky Waterfall when you see one.

Squirrel Pelt
Image courtesy of MulletJunky.com
John Montana has spoiled me in more ways than one. Not only has he exposed me to big, sight fishable carp, but he also turned me on to squirrel dubbing as well. Sure I came up with a pretty bitchin' substitute, but it just wasn't the same. Now I'm lusting after violent tailers and spikey squirrel dub. I'm damaged goods.

fox squirrel
I'll be picking up a few squirrel skins from Coffin Creek Furs. High on the list are the #3 Grade gray squirrel skins at $0.80 a piece. This is the brownliner's seal, and they come a dime a dozen. It's damn near open season on these critters. I'm gonna stock up on them sumbitches and get busy dyeing; rust, olive, black, yellow, blue. I'll be picking up some Pine and Fox Squirrel skins too; I'm gonna run the whole gamut. I've got a bunch of different concoctions cooking up in my head and it's about to get heavy. Think spectral. Alchemy in progress.

Look out there little fella, cause this roughfisher is a gunnin' for you.

May 22, 2010

Take that sucka!

SHR
Brotha Drew from the Vermont Brownliner Brigade representing. The 802nd Mountain Battalion is notorious for football shaped suckers, fat cyprinids, and toothy critters like Amia calva (bowfin) and Lepisosteus osseus (longnose gar). There is also a killer freshwater drum fishery to be had.

egg poacher
SHR
Sergeant Major Price take no prisoners. Here the SgtMaj is putting the smackdown on some shorthead redhorse with egg patterns. Like a Jedi, he has used the force of an eggi juan kenobi to perform some Jedi mind trick shit.

Semper Fidelis!

May 20, 2010

Crackheads

Carp Crack is money holmes! ¡Simón! These pinche pendejos like to smoke the rock. Word on the street is that they'll get down and nasty just to get another hit. Even the micro carp like to get high.

Carp on crack
SMB
I caught this smallie getting high three times. ¡Tres veces! He is a full blown crackhead, esse. Do you party?

May 19, 2010

Apex Predator

Maashkinoozhe

MUE
MUE
Esox masquinongy immaculatus, AKA muskellunge, muskelunge, muscallonge, milliganong, maskinonge, masquinongé, maskinongé, Ohio muskellunge, Great Lakes muskellunge, barred muskellunge, Ohio River pike, Allegheny River pike, jack pike, unspotted muskellunge, Wisconsin muskellunge, lunge, muskie, and musky.

The fish of ten thousand casts, better known in Roughfisher Country as a big toothy bastard.

May 17, 2010

Crack Kills

Carp Crack
Carp Crack
The Global War On Carp is steadfast, upheld by our staunchest defenders of the Republic. The latest drug to hit the streams, Carp Crack, is an underhanded effort by the Republic to undermine the lines of the Rebel forces and cause decay from within. The Republic will utilize all means necessary, chemical or biological, to achieve our objectives.

Carp Crack
We will stand strong and not relinquish our guard. We will endure the campaign through victory. We are the brave, the proud, the awesome, Brownliners.

Speckled Dun

spinner molt macro
I finally spotted my first mayfly of the season at the Roughfisher Command Post. This male callibaetis imago had freshly emerged from his exuvia. Looks like it's time to start fishing some mayfly nymph patterns.

May 14, 2010

Fools Rush In

Hard to believe it's been almost two weeks already.

release
release
This weekend is the upcoming fishing "opener" across Minnesota. This is the time I take the weekend off and let all those ass clowns beat each other up at the boat ramp and fish elbow to elbow to each other. I'm not into jockeying nut to butt with other guys, and for what? A walleye? Homey don't play that.

B&W hero
Little do those guys know that I've been fishing open water since early March. I think I'll sit right'here, crack open a tall one, and bask in my awesomeness.

There's always next week.

May 13, 2010

Shit My Kids Ruined

shitmykidsruined.com
Not a fishing topic, but relevant nonetheless to all the parents out there: Shit My Kids Ruined. It doesn't matter if you own nice things or shitty things, your kids will find them and ruin them. I'm so glad I stumbled across the site the other day and realized that my little devils aren't the only ones out there wreaking havoc on parents' shit.

I'm just hoping they stay out of my fly tying stash....

May 12, 2010

Prairie Yarns

Ironstone super alpaca
Did some scoping around for a "local" yarn shop and stumbled across a cool little yarn store located in Fargo called Prairie Yarns. They had some of the most wonderful skeins of yarn I have ever seen. It was like looking into a page from Singlebarbed's big book of twine, only I didn't have to go through a virtual experience of peering into a musty warehouse in Turkey through a liquid crystal display. I also didn't have to take a gamble and end up with 19,528 miles of a material I didn't really want.

red yarn
green yarn
Ironstone Super Alpaca: 20% Alpaca, 36% Wool, 44& Acrylic. Made in Italy. 50g balls = 100 yds. Each skein contains a nice spectral composite of fibers, thereby reducing my time at the blender when mixing up a dubbing blend. The best thing about my visit is that I took a tip from Singlebarbed's Book of Charm and schmoozed with one of the owners into sending me a bunch of raw fiber samples from exotic furbearers like camel, buffalo, yak, and qiviut. She also gave me an invaluable tip on how to acquire said hard to obtain fibers and more, for free. Score. I liked the place so much, I even took Mrs. Roughfisher for a visit recently.

Chalk another one up for the roughfisher.

May 10, 2010

Tribal art

tribal fish
I have yet to get inked, but if and when I do, tribal fish art is a serious contender.

For Your Eyes Only

Let's kick off the week with some fly porn. Inspired by the Carpfather John Montana, the Montana Carrot and some San Juan Worms. These badboys were taking fish in the PNW, and I'm gonna put them into service here in Minnesota.

Montana Carrot
San Juan Worm
Knowing what I know and what I've seen, I suppose John is going to have to kill me now. For Your Eyes Only.

May 9, 2010

Fishy Kid Writing Contest Winding Down

The Fishy Kid Writing Contest is winding down at the end of the month and we still haven't seen as many submissions as we'd like. This contest is sponsored by a long list of gear companies with the grand prize being a 10' or 12' NuCanoe worth over $900.


Check out the Fishy Kid website, register, and get your Fishy Kids writing! There will be excellent prizes for twelve finalists so it's really worth your time to answer the question...
"Why are the outdoors and spending time on the water so important to you?"
Send an email to gofish@fishykid.org if you have any questions.  Contest ends on May 31st!

May 8, 2010

Pirates of the Columbia: Part 4

Epilogue:

sage scrubland
I arrived in PDX on a redeye and we headed East after a short nap. The weather was gonna be a big factor this trip. The winds were howling from the west, hard, right down the gorge. It was utter madness, as we watched swells rolling upstream in the three to four foot range. This was not gonna be good.

splash
high water
The problem with a west wind is that you can not find good cover on a lee side, protected from the wind. A few of the big fish haunts were completely off the table because of this. We tried anyway and insufferably failed; the water was murky and the waves rolled high. They were completely unfishable. Time for plan B.

discussion
After much discussion and deliberation we concluded that we needed to move off the big fish water and take the risk of possible lower winds but also smaller fish. You always wonder in the back of your mind if you made the right decision, but with a solid week of steady winds in the 20 to 30 mph range and higher gusts, it was gonna take a good long time before the sediment settled out at those spots. To rub salt in our wounds, the water level in the pool we were fishing was being raised by the ACOE for smolt migration. Plans C and D quickly fell apart and before we knew it, we were on to plan Z: completely winging it with our balls slapping in the breeze.

weapons of choice
COP mouth
At least the one thing we could rely on was fly selection, the San Juan Worm and the Montana Carrot. It didn't really matter which fly they were hitting on for a particular day since we fished a dropper rig. If they weren't eating the worm, they were eating the carrot. I tell you what, if you don't normally fish a dropper rig, and you don't typically use overhead casts, it can be quite the challenge sight casting to fish in a 30 mph head wind. Let me just say that in that wind, there was a fair amount of time spent untangling leaders that got wrapped around my rod.

oops
COP tail
COP mouth
There were a lot of flubbed casts. I stuck my fingers a few too many times with those vintage Mustad hooks we were sporting, drawing blood. I cautiously traversed the rocks and the mud flats. There were a lot of "oh shit" moments as I would slip on the slimy rocks near shore, nearly going in for a dunk. I watched waves crash against our chests out on the flats. The wind relentlessly threatened to take our hats for a ride out into the main channel. I kept licking my lips to taste the crust of salt. If you would have dropped me out of a plane blind folded, I would have swore we were fishing salt.

JB rod
mamba jamba
I learned a few things on this trip. First and foremost is that John Montana is a fucking ninja when it comes to hooking up with fish on the flats. If he can put a fly in a carp's face, it will take it, case closed. This guy can outfish you four to one; he did it to me. Also, if you really want to clean up on the fish, you need to put that fly to the left or right of their nose by about six inches, no more, no less. Third, that dropper rig is fucking money. There is a reason that John Montana is the Carpfather. He is the king of the flats.

Dude, teach me.

hero shot
I got a fifteen, but I'm still hunting for that twenty, that thirty. I'll be back. You watch....


Fin